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Sunday, 2 May 2010

Valencia or bust...

The bears are hard taskmasters. Within minutes of our van departure, a truck appeared in the distance. Snaking across the desert, it arrived in front of us, stopping in the midday sun. A fat man in a vest got out of the driver's seat, rushing to the back, and pressing some buttons on a panel.
The side of the truck opened, sliding up onto the roof. Inside, a tropical paradise revealed itself. A man in safari outfit sat behind a camp table, in the middle of a lush jungle that seemed to stretch for miles, even though it was about 20-foot deep. Exotic birds flew from the jungle, exploring the desert and exploding into flames occasionally. The man, around 6-foot and with a small blond moustache, rose from his seat and offered a white gloved hand.
"Sir Nigel Farnsworth-Holmes." He stated. I assumed it was his name, as gloves generally don't have doubled-barreled surnames.
"And you must be the, ah ha, willing building crew!"
I looked around. This, even for me, was rather strange.
"Gentlemen" - and here he addressed the bears - "You've brought the supplies?"
The first bear nodded the affirmative, taking some sort of device from his pocket, and pressing a button. It was then I noticed a second truck had arrived silently behind us. As the bear pressed the button, the back of the truck opened, and teams of workmen began to bring building materials onto the sand.
We watched for a few minutes. They brought out bricks, wooden trusses, cement, even paint.
"You have your materials," Sir Nigel began, "And your unskilled day-labourers"
I looked at the Mexican family. The father mouthed to me that he had a doctorate in Sociology.
"So you can begin work immediately. I will return in one week, and expect to be able to buy fresh oranges at my convenience"
With that, the truck closed up and departed. The bears and the supply truck did likewise. Approaching the building materials, I found a case full of papers. Amongst them, I found blueprints for a small building, and a pamphlet entitled "How to build and run your own Orange Empire - In the DESERT!"
Resigning myself to my fate, I set the Mexicans to work. Prising open a crate, we found many oranges, and did eat heartily. Afterwords, we built the orange shop, and waited for customers. It was not long before they began to, I lie, flood in.